Eagles Head to Seattle for Husky Classic

Feb 10, 2009

Feb. 10, 2009

The Eastern Washington University track and field teams will compete Saturday (Feb. 14) at the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., as the 2009 indoor season nears a close. Eastern will compete at the Vandal Collegiate in Moscow, Idaho, on Feb. 21 before heading to Flagstaff, Ariz., for the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships on Feb. 27-28.

Running events at the Husky Classic will begin at 8 a.m. with the women&rsquo;s 3,000 meters. Field events start at 11 a.m. with the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s pole vault.

Eastern competed Friday (Feb. 6) at the 34th annual Vandal Indoor, where Krystal Deyo won the 60 meters with a time of 7.69 to rank third on Eastern&rsquo;s all-time best list behind the 7.68 time of Angel Davis and the school record of 7.67 set by Celeste Stutheit in 1999.

On Saturday (Feb. 7) at the Runner&rsquo;s Soul Open, Ben Cogdill set a school record in the pole vault with a mark of 16-8. Nine Eagles met automatic qualifying standards last week for the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships.

Eastern has met the league qualifying standards 37 times -- 23 for the men and 14 for the women.

-- Top performers:Ben Cogdill(Estacada, Ore. - Estacada HS &rsquo;06 &amp; Portland State Univ.)At the Runner&rsquo;s Soul Open on Feb. 7, Ben Cogdill had a mark of 16-8 to break Eastern&rsquo;s 20-year-old school record in the pole vault previously held by Todd Freitag with a mark of 16-5 in 1989. A Portland State University transfer from Estacada, Ore., Cogdill also won the pole vault with a mark of 15-9 at Friday&rsquo;s (Feb. 6) Vandal Indoor Invitational.

Nicole Luckenbach(Mill Creek, Wash. - Snohomish HS '05)At the Runner&rsquo;s Soul Open on Feb. 7, Nicole Luckenbach won the women&rsquo;s weight throw with an effort of 58-11 1/2 to rank second on Eastern&rsquo;s all-time best list behind the school-record mark of 60-9 1/2 set by Jaime Martin in 2002. She won the weight throw at Friday&rsquo;s (Feb. 6) Vandal Indoor with a throw of 56-3. At the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 17, Luckenbach won the weight throw with a toss of 57-4 3/4. She also had already qualified for the indoor championships at the EWU Candy Cane Invitational on Dec. 6.

Krystal Deyo(Castle Rock, Wash. - Castle Rock HS '06)At the 34th annual Vandal Indoor Invitational on Feb. 6, Krystal Deyo won the 60 meters with a time of 7.69 to rank third on Eastern&rsquo;s all-time best list behind the 7.68 time of Angel Davis and the school record of 7.67 set by Celeste Stutheit in 1999. At the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 17, Deyo qualified for the BSC Championships in the 60 meters with a time of 7.85 At the EWU Candy Cane Invitational on Dec. 6, Deyo finished first in the 55 meters (7.11) and the long jump (18-3 1/4, ranking sixth on Eastern&rsquo;s all-time best list) to qualify for the Big Sky Conference Championships.

-- Other Top Performers in the 2009 season: Sarah Frey(Olympia, Wash. - Olympia HS '05)At the Runner&rsquo;s Soul Open on Feb. 7, Sarah Freyqualified for the BSC Championships in the 400 meters with a time of 57.95 to finish second and the 200 with a mark of 25.77.

Chelsi Friese(Lebam, Wash. - Willapa Valley HS '07)At the 2008 EWU Candy Cane Invitational on Dec. 6, Friese qualified for the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships in the pole vault with an effort of 12-7 1/2, to rank second on EWU&rsquo;s all-time best list. The school record is 13-4 1/2 set in 2007 by Sarah Hegna.

David Howard(Spokane, Wash. -East Valley HS &rsquo;05 &amp; CC of Spokane)At the Runner&rsquo;s Soul Open on Feb. 7, David Howard had a personal-best mark of 53-9 to finish second in the shot put. At the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 17, Howard qualified for the BSC indoor championships in the shot put and won the event with a throw of 52-1 3/4.

Kersee Lind(Hermiston, Ore. - Hermiston HS &rsquo;07)At the Cougar Indoor Invitational on Jan. 31, Lind qualified for the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships with 4,910 points in the men&rsquo;s heptathlon. He is just 41 points shy of Eastern&rsquo;s school record set by Matt Ludwigson in 2007 of 4,951.

Cameron Moore(Spokane, Wash. - Ferris HS '04)Moore qualified for the BSC Indoor Championships in the triple jump with a mark of 48-4 1/2 to finish first at the EWU Candy Cane Invitational. He is one of three Eagles who met the qualifying standard in that event on Dec. 6.

Brianna Okoro(Lakewood, Wash. - Bellermine Prep &rsquo;08)At the Runners&rsquo;s Soul Open on Feb. 7, Brianna Okoroquaified for the BSC Championships in the long jump with a mark of 18-2 1/2 to finish second. Okoro qualified for the BSC Championships in the high jump with a mark of 5-4 1/2 at the Cougar Indoor Invitational on Jan. 31. She also finished fourth in the women&rsquo;s pentathlon with 2,961 points.

Alex Smyth(Kent, Wash. - Sequim HS &rsquo;06)In the 3,000 meters, Smyth had a time of 8:17.98 at the UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 17 to qualify for the indoor championships and rank third on Eastern&rsquo;s all-time best list.